Young dad left paralysed weeks before wedding after 'freak accident'

A young dad who was set to walk down the aisle next month has had to put his wedding plans on hold after he was left paralysed in a “freak accident”.

Stafford, from Texas, was at the community swimming pool with his fiance Madison Wusterhausen and their 23-month-old son, Noah, when he jumped feet first into a swimming pool on July 11.

It was something he had done “multiple times before” but things “took a horrible turn” and this time he lost feeling in his legs, according to the couple’s GoFundMe page.

Image: GoFundMe.com

The impact shattered Stafford’s vertebrae, leaving him paralysed from the waist down after a complicated five-hour surgery, the couple said.

His fiance told KHOU she had to reach into the pool and lift him up, so he could breathe.

“I started screaming ‘He’s drowning, he’s drowning.’ People came over and helped him out of the pool and he started saying he couldn’t feel his legs,” she said.

Stafford’s distraught fiance told the news channel they did not know if would “ever be able to walk again”, adding, “It’s just really upsetting that something like this has happened to us”.

Image: GoFundMe.com

The couple were planning to wed next month onboard a cruise ship. However, they revealed the nuptials had been placed on hold, with Stafford vowing to walk his fiance down the aisle in future.

“If he comes home in a wheelchair or he comes home walking, I’ll love him no matter what,” she added.

The couple have already raised more than $20,000 from kind strangers to go towards surgeries and Stafford’s physical therapy, which they hope will lead to him regaining the use of his lower extremities.